Student Forums Address Attack

Within hours of Tuesday morning’s attack, Dean of Students Ann Quinley sent out a message informing students that there would be five campus-wide forums later that night where students, faculty, and administration could gather to talk about their emotions and reactions to the tragedy. Although there were only a modest number of students at the onset of the assembly in Mudd Lounge, dozens more somberly arrived and took their places on the floor. Associate Dean of Students Toni Clark began the talk by informing students that there were no reports of any Pomona students losing family members as a result of the attacks. As discussion started, the evident overriding concern on students’ minds was a desire to pull together and help the victims. In addition to the idea of painting Walker Wall, students expressed intentions to donate blood, put on fundraisers, and write letters of condolence to the families of those who died in New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.

The discussion then shifted to become a discussion of students’ fears over the retribution America is going to take globally as well as the backlash against certain groups within the nation itself. "What really scares me is that I don’t know what’s going to come of this," said Sonja Hubbard ’03. There was a shared fear that there might be an increase in the amount of hate crimes. Professor of Psychology Deborah Burke encouraged students not to participate in a kind of bystander apathy "where people around you might be saying things that you disagree with or feel uncomfortable with, but you don’t say anything to stop them." Freshman Naveen Sangji reminded everyone to not "hate a big group of people, or a country, for the actions of only a few madmen. Those madmen committed actions that no normal person would ever commit."

Amidst all the sharing, one student rose her hand and volunteered to read an e-mail she had received earlier that day from a high school classmate attending school in New York. The e-mail chronologically described the friend’s terror as Tuesday’s events unfolded, from the moment she looked out of her window and could see the World Trade Center on fire to the moments when she was being evacuated amongst screaming victims and dead bodies. After the reading, students sat in silence for a minute until Dean Clark’s final comment. "We must remember that one of the good things about being here at Pomona when something like this happens is that we are in a community, and people will continue to talk about it. Administration, faculty and your fellow students will be more than happy to talk about these events with you." As the forum came to a conclusion, most of the students remained in the room and found groups of people with whom to continue sharing their feelings on the day’s catastrophic events.

Associate Dean of Students and Dean of the College Matt Taylor was present to converse with a smaller forum of about 30 students in Walker Lounge at the same time Tuesday evening. Taylor received mixed student responses after asking those gathered whether the decision by the administration to continue with classes on Tuesday had been effective or appropriate. Joseph Prows ’04 said, "It was good to have a sense of structure that day with everything that had happened that morning. It was difficult though to get through a three hour lab. People had other things on their minds–there were other things we wanted to talk about and it was difficult to stay focused." Similar expressions around campus reflected the mixed sentiments of students on the issue.

Also present at this forum two counselors from Monsour Counseling Center, Nissa Chantana and intern Elizabeth Gayed. Delores Mack, Director of the Monsour, attended the forum at the Smith Campus Center. The counselors presented information on common stress reactions associated with disasters and how to deal with them. Professor of English Daniel Birkholz and Professor of Philosophy Fred Sontag also attended the Walker forum, and shared their reactions to the events, including the experience of teaching class right after hearing about the bombings.

Another forum will be held 3 pm this Friday at Harwood Lounge, attended by Nissa Chantana.